1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a progressive damping device for furniture, which is designed to prevent impacts between the mobile parts of furniture provided with self-closing systems, and provides progressive closure according to the speed and energy acquired in the closure, whilst complying with a general composition comprising a cylinder in which a dynamic fluid circulates, and in the interior of which there is displaced a piston which has a rod provided with an elastoplastic valve, which delimits respective compression and expansion chambers.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
In this field there are known devices provided with dampers for furniture with a self-closing system, for the purpose of preventing impact between the mobile part of the furniture, such as a drawer, and the fixed part. Amongst these devices, reference can be made to Spanish patent P-200400369 “Damping device for furniture” by the same inventor, which describes a damper based on a fluid-dynamic cylinder in which the cylindrical body is provided with a piston which is displaced in relation to the cylindrical body. The said piston has a cylindrical form and is modified by two faces which are opposite one another, and the dimensions of which decrease to form a coaxial extension. However, this damping mechanism does not provide progressive damping based on speed.
In order to prevent problems of impact of the furniture during closure by obtaining progressive damping, a number of devices have been developed, most of which are highly complex, thus adding to their production costs and making assembly difficult. In order to solve this problem, the same applicant submitted the additional Spanish patent P-200500139, in which graduation of the damping action was achieved according to the speed of the impulse to be damped. For this purpose, this damping device comprises an inner cylindrical sleeve which is prolonged by means of a strip of an elastoplastic nature, and extends diametrically in the form of a bridge which projects beyond the point of the extension of the piston in the form of a basket. This basket will permit graduation in the damping of the closure of the furniture by means of its resilient flexure, but the part which is provided with the basket is produced by injection, and the point of injection coincides with the strip of the basket. This means that it is difficult to predict the exact modulus of flexure, including the origin of possible points of occurrence of rupture cracks.
These problems are exacerbated by the dimensions of the parts with a greatly reduced size. In addition, this basket forms together with the extension of the piston an end in the form of a crosspiece, which is interposed in the fluid discharge flow.